Photos: Jackie Finlan
Washington State is heading to the DI Spring College Round of 16 as the Pacific Mountain Rugby Conference (PMRC) #4 seed. The Cougars dropped its Saturday match 36-22 to UC Davis and then defeated Oregon State 31-14 Sunday for the berth to the April 20-22 spring regionals. Washington State will play at either Stanford or BYU in two weeks.
RELATED: A Different Davis Plays On • Stanford to Refocus on Regionals • Support TRB: Become a Patron
“This team is mentally tough,” Washington State coach Becky Urion said of weekend takeaways. “We had a little bit of a surprising loss at the end of the first day, but true to form, they were able to turn it into something positive the next day. And I think we made a lot of positive changes. It was certainly a wake-up call the first day of some things we need to work on and be strict about – but again I’m really proud of their ability to take that and turn it into something good going forward.”
Washington State had led UC Davis 22-12 in the second half, and then the Aggies responded with four unanswered tries to win.
“I think we got in our own heads a little bit,” Urion said. “We were on the cusp of scoring several times but then had silly mistakes, turnovers that we shouldn’t have given away. I’m not sure if that was a little bit of nerves or something else. We’re a little bit of a younger team than we’ve been in the past and there’s a learning curve. And Davis is a caliber we weren’t used to playing. We were our own worse enemy [Saturday].”
Oregon State also received a shock on day one and dropped a 97-17 decision to host Stanford. But there was still everything to play for on Sunday, as the PMRC receives four seeds overall (Chico State is the #1 seed and automatically qualified already).
When Washington State and Oregon State met in the regular season, the teams played to a single-digit decision in favor of the Cougars. So it was no surprise that the first half ended 12-12. Washington State got on the board after the opening kickoff was knocked on and then Oregon State was penalized at the subsequent scrum. The ball moved to inside center Erica Chandler, who busted through for the first of her two tries on the day.
The Beavers have a very good pack that not only turns over scrums but produces good go-forward through hard charges and slick offloads. The uptick in pressure forced the Cougars into a waterfall of penalties, and flanker Maddison Mitchell took a pass out of contact for the Beavers’ converted try, 7-5 after 15 minutes.
Washington State continued to make life difficult for itself with penalties, and referee Jessica Turner stopped the game to consult the captain – clean it up or else. The team rebooted and scored immediately on the wing. Oregon State evened up with a dive-over try a few minutes before the half, 12-all.
“What we did [Saturday], we all set individual goals about how we wanted to handle adversity when it was handed to us,” Urion said. “When we talked at halftime [Sunday] we reflected on what we wanted to do, made some positive changes and stuck to our plan rather than getting strung out.”
Oregon State held onto a lot of possession in the second half, but the leadership of seniors Alex Denzinger (scrumhalf) and Monae Henrickson (flyhalf), and forwards captain Danielle Anderson (flanker) steadied Washington State. Their play all season has allowed natural rugby players like prop Alisha Mayo, wing Lexi Smith and No. 8 Natayah Bauer express themselves and make meaningful contributions early in their Cougar careers.
At the 55-minute mark, the Cougars stripped the ball out of the tackle and then moved it wide to Chandler, who works the defense so well, for the immediate try. She along with fullback Clare Chartier were the most difficult backs to contain.
Ten minutes later, Oregon State needed to get out of its end and settled into its otherwise successful forward punch play. But the phases went a bit long and Denzinger eventually stripped the ball and returned it through the middle for the try, 26-12. In the waning minutes, Anderson cleaned up messy ball to dot down in the corner for the 31-12 win and trip to the spring regionals.
“We’ll take a few days to heal our wounds and then we really need to talk about being strict on some things we’ve practiced before,” Urion looked toward the upcoming two weeks. “I think we know what we need to do, we just don’t do it sometimes. We need to get back to basics and make sure we’re rucking well and tackling well and covering the ball well.”
Washington State will travel to either Stanford or BYU (Life and East Carolina are the east venues) for the DI Spring College Round of 16. Brackets to be announced.
WashingtonState PacificMountainRugbyConference #2018SpringPlayoffs